Tring Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Proposals Draft January 2018 Acknowledgements This document was produced by Beams on behalf of the Conservation and Design Team at Dacorum Borough Council. All photographs used in the report and taken by Beams unless otherwise specified. Beams would like to thank Tim Amsden of the Tring Local and Natural History Society for information about the Tring architect William Huckvale, and Isobel Thompson of the Historic Environment Record at Hertfordshire County Council for providing HER material. Beams Ltd The Castle Hertford SG14 1HR Tel: 01992 504331 Email: [email protected] © Published 2018 No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of Dacorum Borough Council Cover photographs: Main picture: 26 High Street, seen from Akeman Street Insect pictures from left to right : High Street, central section looking north-west 31 Frogmore Street Baptist Church on Akeman Street, from grave yard Tring Park Mansion, south elevation 1 CONTENTS PART 1 CHARACTER APPRAISAL INTRODUCTION 3 Conservation Area designation Designation and review of Tring conservation area Location, Boundaries, Topography, Surroundings, Geology, Archaeology HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 9 Medieval Tring Post-reformation Tring Early-nineteenth century Late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century William Huckvale Later Twentieth century SURVIVING HISTORIC CHARACTERISTICS 19 Summary of historical features Street pattern and building plots Current activities and uses Focal points Views and vistas Open spaces Landscape and trees Public Realm HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST 25 Introduction Area 1 Brook Street High Street (east) Churchyard High Street (centre) Frogmore Street Akeman Street High Street (west) Park Street Park Road Tring Park Area 2 Western section (from Langdon Street) NEUTRAL AND NEGATIVE BUILDINGS AND FEATURES 47 PART 2 CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS 51 Introduction Application of Policy Policy and Design Guidance Development Briefs Monitoring Change Boundary Changes Appraising the Condition of Heritage Assets Enforcement Proceedings Article 4 Directions BIBLIOGRAPHY 62 APPENDICES 1 Statutory Listed Buildings 63 2 Historic Environment Record 2 INTRODUCTION Conservation Area designation A 'conservation area' is a statutory designation intended to conserve the historic environment of a settlement. It is defined in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as “an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.” Local planning authorities have a duty to designate and review conservation areas under Section 69 of the same Act. Section 71 requires them, from time to time, to formulate and publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement of their conservation areas. Section 72 requires them to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of their conservation areas in the exercise of their planning functions. Conservation area designation requires a local planning authority:- to preserve and / or enhance the area, in accordance with legislation and national planning policies to adopt local planning policies which pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the area Conservation area designation gives a local planning authority:- control over demolition of unlisted buildings control over work to trees more control over advertisements - fewer can be displayed with deemed consent more control over development - fewer types can be carried out without the need for planning permission. 3 4 Tring Conservation Area Conservation Tring 5 Designation and Review of Tring Conservation Area Tring conservation area was first designated by Dacorum Borough Council on 6th October 1969, and the boundary was reviewed in February 1978. The boundary was extended in 1978 to include majority of properties fronting the southern side of Western Road and all properties fronting Chapel Street, Queen Street, Langdon Street, King Street, Albert Street and Akeman Street. A conservation area appraisal is now being produced for the first time. It offers guidance intended to assist all those involved in the management of development in Tring, including residents, architects, developers, council officers and members, and planning inspectors. It traces a brief history of Tring, and appraises the special historic and architectural interest of the conservation area which justifies its designation. It also gives an account of interesting characteristics other than buildings, such as green spaces and materials, and identifies negative features. Finally it makes management proposals intended to preserve and enhance the area's character, and incorporates a review of the boundaries. The appraisal also includes a list of statutory listed buildings (Appendix 1) Location The historic medieval market town of Tring is in the extreme west of Hertfordshire. It is some thirty miles north-west of London, nine miles east of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and seventeen miles west of St Albans. It is one of three main settlements in the Borough of Dacorum, lying about six miles north-west of Berkhamsted, and some twelve miles north- west of Hemel Hempstead, the administrative centre of Dacorum. The London-to-Birmingham railway line passes two miles to the east of the town, in Aldbury parish, while the Grand Union Canal runs alongside it on the east. A group of four reservoirs lies two miles to the north, built to feed the Canal. They have been a nature reserve since 1955, and were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1987. Their significance is analysed in Dacorum Landscape Character Area Number 113: Tring Reservoirs. The A41 road, a busy dual carriageway, lies close to the south of the town and runs through Tring Park. Boundaries The conservation area is wedge-shaped, and encompasses the historic centre, comprising High Street and Western Road to the north, and Park Street and Park Road to the south, from Brook Street and Tring Park in the east, to the point where Western Road and Park Road join in the west and form Aylesbury Road. Most of Tring Park itself is excluded, although Tring Mansion and its former stables and north gate lodge are included. The conservation area forms the southern part of contemporary Tring. The majority of the town is modern development north of the historic centre, reaching to the Icknield Way (B488) in the north and Grove Road in the east, which is excluded from the conservation area. The conservation area boundaries are review in part 2 section 6 of this document. 6 Topography and setting Tring is situated in a break in the Chiltern Hills known as Tring Gap. It is set in a slight declivity, at about 100 metres above sea level, with land rising gently east and west of the town, and sloping gradually from north to south. Aerial view of Tring with Conservation Area boundary outlined The town is surrounded by the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), designated for the fine quality of its landscape, which around Tring consists primarily of fields and woodland. It is approached from the east and the railway station along an avenue of chestnuts and lime trees. From the south-east, the long flint boundary wall and tree belt of Tring Park, and London Lodge, the former gate lodge, give an introduction to the conservation area well before one reaches the town. On the opposite side of the road to the park is agricultural land. The western approach is through open country along a road lined with hedges and trees which passes Tring cemetery. All the approaches to Tring provide glimpses of the Chiltern Hills visible in the distance. The setting to the south and west is marred by the sight and sound of the A41 road, a busy dual carriageway. Immediately to the south of the town, bordering High Street and Park Street and Road, is Tring Park. The wider parish of Tring is scattered with small villages and hamlets in a rural and sylvan setting. Immediately to the east is Pendley Manor (now a hotel), and some miles to the east is the vast woodland of the Ashridge estate. 7 Geology The geology of Tring consists of chalk rock substrata, which underlie softly contoured hills of chalk downland. North of Tring is a watershed which divides the drainage basin of the Great Ouse River to the north from that of the River Colne to the south. Springs emerge from the chalk land and turn into rivers flowing south, which join the Colne in the west, and ultimately the Thames at Staines. Archaeology There are no scheduled ancient monuments in Tring conservation area or in the town. However the scheduled ancient monument of Grim's Ditch lies about three miles to the south of the town near Hastoe. It consists of earthworks forming a prehistoric boundary, visible as a bank and ditch, which run east-west through Shrub's Wood. 8 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT Medieval Tring The manor of Tring is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086), when it was held by Count Eustace of Boulogne. It was granted to the Abbot of Faversham from the mid- twelfth century, to the Archbishop of Canterbury from the mid-fourteenth century, and reverted to the Crown from the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47) to that of Charles II (1660-85). It was granted to Colonel Henry Guy in 1680, and subsequently passed to the Gores and the Rothschilds, until it was sold and dispersed in 1937. The existence and site of an early manor house is uncertain, and it may or may not have coincided with the present house, begun by Guy in 1682. An engraving showing how Tring Park was meant to look at the time of Sir William Gore, c.1700 (Woodhouse, 1996) Surrounding manors were Tring Rectory, Miswell, Bunstrux, Riccarins, and Pendley, which had a medieval park. There were no monasteries in the area.